Breaking Barriers
by Mai Kusakabe
Summary: Ace had been planning to have a relaxing summer holiday in the middle of nowhere. Of course, at this point in life, he should already have learned plans rarely work as they are intended to.
1. Chapter 1

Third update on the MarcoAce Week. The prompt for today was 'Modern AU', and thinking of something took its time. I didn't want to do a college or high school AU but, unfortunately, my brain at some point while coming up with the plot forgot this was supposed to be an one-shot. This story is going to be long. So long, in fact, that I can't even try to guess how long it'll be (and I can easily guess up to 100k, though I usually fall short in these attempts), so you should probably be afraid here.

I have some people to thank here. First of all, Aerle for beta-reading this (and putting up with some stupid… things… I made with this one), The Red Harlequin On The Luna, who's been helping me work with the camping part of the story and trying to keep serious mistakes to a minimum, and Anjelle, who was there at the first stages of the story and helped me plan where the plot would go.

This said, here is chapter one, I hope you enjoy it :)

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"I've put enough food in there to mostly feed an army for a couple of weeks, but you'll probably have to start hunting in a week or so to fill that black hole of a stomach of yours. You remember all those lessons about hunting, don't you? Also, don't forget the batteries are charged with solar light. You have three, so make sure the two you don't use at the moment are at full capacity. And Ace, don't be an idiot. That phone's signal goes through a satellite, it should be fine, but if there's any problem _head for the closest town_. And don't you-"

"Alright, alright!" Ace interrupts the tirade, raising both hands. "I get it, okay? Be responsible, don't act stupid, if I run out of _anything_ I have to go somewhere with other people immediately. I understand, Sabo, so stop repeating it!"

Sabo gives him a sceptical look and Ace crosses his arms petulantly over his chest. This has been a common occurrence ever since Ace decided to go on this trip, and the moment classes ended a week ago things just escalated to ridiculous proportions. Sabo has always been the responsible brother, no one argues that, but this has been a little too much. It's not as if Ace hasn't spent time in a forest before, they spent _weeks_ there as kids in many occasions, and they survived. Sabo worries too much. And if Ace wasn't as strong as he is he wouldn't be able to carry the bags his brother has packed for him —because apparently Ace was bound to forget something if he packed them himself.

"I'm just worried, Ace, you'll be there for two months."

"I know," says Ace, sighing.

"Aaaaceee, you really gotta go?" asks Luffy, intervening for the first time since Sabo started his tirade about everything Ace shouldn't forget.

"But that's boring~~!" his little brother whines, as he has been doing from the moment Ace announced his plans for the summer. "You'll be alone, and it won't be fun. Can't we come?" That is something else Luffy has been insisting on. At first, his little brother thought Ace wanted the three of them to go on this trip together, and was very disappointed when he discovered that wasn't the case. Ever since, every time right after Ace says he won't change his mind about going, he has tried to convince him to tag along.

"No, Lu, I'm going alone." Luffy pouts, and Ace has to steel himself not to feel too bad about that. "But you won't be alone. You'll have your friends, and remember Sabo has promised he'll do whatever you want until I come back."

"But you won't be there."

Ace is saved from answering by the voice calling the passengers to the train through the speakers.

"That's me," he says, bending down to pick his heavy backpack with the sleeping bag secured on top of it and slip his arms into the straps. It falls in place against his back, and next he takes his second bag, this one way smaller than the backpack and containing his valuable food, and throws it over his shoulder. He makes sure his belt pouch is secured around his hips and then grins to his brothers.

"See you in two months, guys."

Despite their worry and complaints, his brothers are enthusiastic in saying goodbye and wishing him a good trip. They are by far the loudest ones in the station, and get many bothered looks because of it, but none of them have ever cared about what others might think about them.

As soon as he is in the train car, Ace goes to the still open window to wave at them.

"Don't forget to call!" he hears Sabo yell at him, and he laughs and promises he will.

This has been one of the many topics of discussion during the whole preparation of his trip; there is a forest close to their town, but that is the one where he has spent so much time with Luffy and Sabo, and knows it almost as if it was his backyard. He wants both a place to disconnect from the world and an adventure, and that is why he chose to go a couple of towns over, where there is another forest that will suit him just fine.

But, despite all the arguments over the topic, now everything is fine, they are fine and Sabo and Luffy are running next to the train as it leaves the station, waving and yelling last minute things at him until some security guards manage to stop them to get them out of the area where people is not supposed to be.

* * *

Ace grins as he drops the amount of wood he has brought onto the growing pile he has been gathering for the past couple of hours.

It has taken well past a day to reach one of the areas he had marked on the map as possible campsites, and he is reasonably sure it's not very likely someone will stumble upon him here. Just in case, and also just in case some animals get too close, Ace is not stupid enough to be unarmed. He doesn't expect much trouble, though, as this isn't a dangerous area at all: he wants to relax and disconnect from the world, not playing one of the survival games gramps threw him and his brothers into when they were little.

This particular spot was the first option on his list of possible camps, because there is a cave —where he has begun to build camp— close enough to a water stream that he will have no trouble to get water.

And, speaking of the river, now that he has a pile of firewood twice his size, it's time to bring some water and have it purified before doing anything else.

He chuckles as he goes to get one of the two water carriers —Sabo insisted he brought a spare— out of his backpack. It has been some time since the last time he camped with his brothers, and he almost forgot going for the water now just because he still has a couple of litres left from the water he has brought from home. Maybe he should take out that list with instructions Sabo insisted on putting in his belt pouch.

That guy can't help worrying about everything. Not that Ace blames him, having two brothers as Luffy and himself. Sabo was never the most responsible or well behaved kid around, but he had soon to learn to keep an eye on everything to make sure they all survived whatever stupid stunt they pulled at the moment —it would be impossible to count how many times Luffy got lost somewhere or Ace got into a fight he probably shouldn't have— and now that has paid off. Sabo is one of the most well organized individuals Ace has ever met, capable of paying attention to many things at the same time.

He grins when he finds the water carrier, stuffs everything he had pulled out while searching for it back inside and heads for the water stream he already spotted a while ago.

* * *

Ace sighs happily, sprawled on the forest ground next to his cave after eating lunch. The grass feels nice against his skin, even against the part that's covered in clothes, though there are some annoying stones, like the one digging into his left buttock. At this hour of the day, the sun shines into the clearing and warms his skin, and there's a soft breeze blowing over his body. All in all, this is the closest to heaven he has felt in a long time.

He really needed to get away. He hates college, this has been his first year there —even if it was Sabo's second— and any ill thoughts he might have had about high school in the past have turned into longing. He did hate high school back in the day, but he could skip classes often enough to make up for it. College, however, is much harder, and skipping classes is but a wistful dream. The workload is also horrible, and he has to spend too many hours sitting doing papers and studying for his liking. This year he tried staying in a dorm room, after all it is Garp who pays and the guy has money, but he didn't like it —his roommate was one of the biggest idiots he has ever met, and there was always noise somewhere— but next year he has decided he would much rather the one hour train ride from home. Sabo won't be there, of course, because he goes to class somewhere much farther away, but there will be Luffy to distract him.

He really needed to get away from everything. And, as much as he loves his brothers, Luffy would have driven him mad right now. And Sabo too, perhaps. The guy isn't as calm as he appears.

He has mentioned his roommate was an idiot, hasn't he? That guy is in part responsible for Ace's current need of solitude, because rooming with someone who doesn't give a fuck about his studies and spends half his time intoxicated one way or another isn't good for one's stress level or productivity.

And he had missed the forest.

Sabo exaggerated —big surprise there— and the food he has packed will last more than a week even if he eats as much as he wants, but Ace is no idiot and he knows he will need to hunt and can't risk running out of packed food. He has already started, and the rabbit he had last night for dinner is a good proof of it.

* * *

Rain is beautiful, it is relaxing and it has a lot of songs and stories dedicated to it. Ace likes rain, he really does. Most of the time, anyway. Right now, he fucking hates it, though. His first week of isolation has passed, and it has been great. Up until this point. It started raining early this morning, barely an hour after breakfast, and he didn't think much of it. He took the few things he had outside with him inside the cave, and then moved everything a little further inside just in case the wind changed direction and the rain entered the cave. It hasn't. But it is now over two hours past lunch and it doesn't look like it will stop raining any time soon.

He sighs.

He has already read for the third time the book on the flora and fauna of the area Sabo gave him —he read it for the first time before leaving for his vacation— and there are only so many solitaires he can play with the deck of cards Luffy insisted he should bring before getting bored.

He should probably have brought some other book, too, but he was so intent on spending as much time as possible doing exercise —he hasn't been able to do as much as he wanted during the school year— that he didn't think of it. And apparently not even Sabo is perfect.

He could always doodle something on one of the two notebooks he has brought with him, he knows that, but it's not a very attractive idea right now. He is sick of staying still, and there is only so much space to move about in the front part of the cave.

The _front_ part of…

He grins.

Ace can clearly imagine how Sabo would argue that walking deeper into an unknown cave could be very dangerous, how Luffy would jump happily at the idea and try to dart in before the blond brother managed to hold him back. It wouldn't be hard to convince Sabo, because despite the mature behavior none of the brothers has ever been good at resisting the thrill of adventure.

And with that in mind, he stands up. Ace checks he has everything he needs; the Swiss army knife is in one of his front pockets, a pack of matches is in one of the pockets halfway down his left leg, the lighter is in one of his jacket's pockets along with a couple of energy bars —he has two more of these in another of his pant pockets— the flashlight is firmly held to his belt, just as are the full canteen and the gun, he has the pocket knife in the other front pocket, and his belt pouch has the compass, a can of bacon that could act as three or four meals if he was forced to ration it, a spare battery for the flashlight just in case and a folded bivy sack.

Ace puts the fire out —he doesn't know how long it will take him to come back— takes the flashlight, turns it on and heads deeper into the cave.

He walks through a relatively ample space, with stable but pretty uneven ground. The walls are bare with the exceptions of some crevices, and they catch daunting shadows under the flashlight's glare, but as he advances —ten, twenty minutes— he doesn't see any bifurcation.

He is disappointed, and he doesn't know why. What exactly had he been expecting? He is walking through a cave, a perfectly normal cave. Was he expecting to find some wide cavern further in, perhaps like the mines of Moria from the _Lord of the Rings_? A dragon hoarding treasure? Green little gnomes hopping around?

Ace is saved from discovering what ridiculous notion his bored mind will come up with next when the flashlight catches a portion of the wall to the right that looks too dark to be a simple crevice.

Grinning, Ace approaches it and directs the light straight into it. Sure enough, it is an opening, and he eagerly shifts the light to look inside. There doesn't seem to be a path, at least not one his flashlight has caught yet, as the light rebounds from solid walls as Ace moves it. It seems that the place _is_ a cavern, though a small one with no magnificent columns or ridiculously narrow paths bordering an apparently bottomless fall. The second fact is somewhat relieving. He is about to turn the flashlight back into the main path when something catches his eye. It's a small patch of color, and he almost passes it over, unnoticed.

At first he thinks it might be something another camper has left behind, but when the light hits it properly he notices it's not. It is a painting. A small drawing in a faded color blue that triggers at his memory. It has a somewhat childish design, and at closer inspection Ace discovers it is a bird. A blue bird.

The reason why it seems somewhat familiar is because he has seen similar paintings before, back in high school, in his history books. In the prehistory chapters. But that is absurd. First of all, all the images he remembers were in warm colors, but this one is _blue_ —and yes, he knows how absurd that excuse sounds, but it is even more absurd to think that he has just found a thousands of years old picture. And a _blue bird_? Isn't that a little weird. The pigments are somewhat faded, but the color is unmistakable. Are there birds that blue? Not in this area, he is sure of that. Maybe an extinct species?

Curiosity and excitement taking over him, Ace steps into the opening of the small cavern and walks inside. As he advances, a tingling sensation runs over him and he thinks that, real or fake, this is just awesome and he has to take a picture to send to Luffy and Sabo. That's about the time he realizes he has left his phone in his backpack.

_Just great._

If his brothers called and he didn't pick it up, he's dead.

He will have to go back to get it and take that picture. Maybe that way Luffy will be sidetracked and forget his anger and Sabo will be curious and interested enough to only scold him.

But first, Ace wants to take a closer look. He walks the few steps separating him from the wall and crouches down to be eye level with the drawing. He is not going to touch it —contrary to popular belief, Ace isn't _that_ stupid— but this way he can see it better. The bird has various yellow tails, and they're hard to count the way they are tangled in that almost childish, lined way, and some yellow on the head, almost as if it is a flame.

He leans a little closer, and he doesn't notice the soft warmth emanating from the wall until there is a burst of light that has him landing on his ass and makes him drop the flashlight, both hands coming up to cover his tightly shut eyes.

The light disappears as fast as it appeared and Ace opens his eyes, lowering his hands as he does so. One hand goes down to close around his gun and he is about to scramble back to his feet when he freezes in place.

There is still light in the cavern, other than what his still on flashlight offers, and it comes from the wall. Or where the wall was. Because there is no trace of the wall Ace had been standing right in front of or the painting on it. No, the wall now it farther away, perhaps five steps, and in the new space there is a _bird_. A blue bird with three yellow tails curled at its back and an also yellow crown that resembles suspiciously a flame.

In two blinks of his eyes the bird is gone, and all the light comes once more from his flashlight. A flashlight that is directed to the entrance.

Ace jumps to his feel and snatches it up from the floor, his other hand still ready to take his gun out at the minimal sign of danger. He aims the light at the spot where the bird has left and is disconcerted to see a man on its place.

A tall, _naked_, man with a very well toned body and a strange tuft of blond hair on the top of his head, almost as if he has become bald in the opposite way than the rest of the world.

And he is waking up.

A quick flick of the light over the area proves that there are no weapons around, and Ace takes a tentative step back.

This is all too weird, something he is sure he doesn't understand and not so sure he _wants_ to understand, but there is someone before him that might be hurt, and Ace knows he should try to help.

"Hey," he speaks tentatively.

The man groans and drags himself to a kneeling position facing Ace. He looks older than him —although for some reason Ace is incapable of saying how much older— has blue eyes and is staring groggily at him. He is good looking, Ace fleetingly admits to himself, and in any other circumstance he would be checking out the good looking naked guy before him. But this situation is just too weird for that.

"Are you alright?" he asks in the same cautious voice as before, and takes another step closer when the man only tilts his head to one side. "Are you hurt?"

The man opens his mouth and says something. For some reason Ace is surprised his voice doesn't sound hoarse —why should it, really?— but most of his surprise is centered in the fact that he hasn't understood what the blond has said.

_He's foreigner?_ He wonders, and then: _What language was that?_

"Don't you speak English?" Another step forward and he stoops down to kneel in front of the man at a small distance.

Some more words Ace can't even guess what language they are, because they don't sound like anything he has ever heard, and he shakes his head.

Just great. Some weird guy appears after a bright, even weirder, light and a plainly absurd blue bird and there's no way to communicate with him.

"I guess you can't tell me how you got here, then," he mutters, looking down moodily, and he almost jumps out of his skin when something touches his face.

It's just two of the blond's fingers, and Ace puts the gun he hadn't realized he had drawn back into place. It is weird, he notes, that the man hasn't noticed it yet.

The fingers trace the side of his face in a slow, downward motion, the man staring at him in what can only be defined as fascination. Ace feels nervous under that look, he has to admit grudgingly. Now that the traces of his unconsciousness are gone, the blond's gaze has become intense, even in that strange half-lidded expression Ace has just noticed he has.

"What?" he asks, and almost grins because his nervousness doesn't show in his voice.

The man smiles in a way that reflects the movements of his hand and, before Ace can realize what is going on, he had leaned forward, cut the distance separating them, and there are lips pressed against Ace's.

He freezes.

There is a mouth pressed over his own —a skilled mouth, his brain notes uselessly— and a hand holding his head, caressing his face in the same slow, soft movements as before. A tongue brushes over his slack lower lip and Ace snaps out of the shock.

He raises both hands to the man's naked chest and pushes with all his strength, taking two steps backwards at the same time.

"What the fuck was that?!" he yells, not caring that the other can't understand —his tone should be more than enough to get the message across— and too angry to be impressed that the man has managed to keep his footing.

The blond must have understood, because he raises both hands before his chest, open and palms visible, and gives him a beseeching look. Ace takes it as an apology, not that he will stop glaring at him because of that. He raises a hand and points to the entrance.

"Go!" he yells, and again it seems the man understands.

He takes a tentative step forward, followed by another, and he slowly heads to the opening, keeping his eyes on Ace as he passes him, but not walking to the side to avoid him. Ace might be a little impressed that the man doesn't seem to be a coward.

The dark haired young man turns on his heels, stalking behind the other man. He keeps his flashlight aimed at the naked back —and ass— and doesn't have to correct the blond because he takes the right direction to head to the entrance of the cave.

There is a tense silence as they walk, not that they could have talked even if Ace had wanted to, and when they reach the front part of the cave the man stops next to the extinguished fire for a moment, and Ace can see his head move as he takes in his camp, before turning to him, a lost expression on his face.

It's still pouring outside, and Ace is not so cruel as to send a naked, helpless man into a forest, much less in this weather. He wouldn't do so even if he gave him some clothes and provisions. He is not so angry that he would be that irrational.

Ace sighs and points to one of the rocks around the campfire.

"Sit."

There is a confused blink —that seems to be the blond man's default expression— but he must have understood, because he nods and does as he has been told.

Letting out another long suffering sigh, Ace sets to start his fire again. It's a good thing he stored so much firewood, because it looks like they will be stuck here until the morning at least.

**To be continued**


	2. Chapter 2

I know, it's been a while since I posted the first chapter. I'm sorry for the wait, but I can't promise I'll update soon. I probably won't. Summer doesn't sit well with me and I become somewhat of a zombie thanks to the heat. Right now I'm almost falling asleep despite having slept enough tonight and it has taken a lot of effort to edit the couple of things I had to edit here before posting.

If you find anything that doesn't make sense, please point it out to me.

Chapter revised by Aerle :)

* * *

**Chapter 2**

To say Ace is nervous would be a very serious understatement. He has knelt facing the mysterious man to start the fire, that had been the only reasonable option if he wanted to keep the blond in sight, but now he is not so sure that was a good idea. The man has been staring at him like a hawk all the time, blue eyes fixed on Ace and everything he has done, and the boy could swear he saw the man _jump_ when he switched the lighter on to light the pile of wood and dry leaves.

Now there is the issue of dinner, and it's obvious he will have to feed his uninvited guest. Going for his satchel bag, where he has a good amount of canned and otherwise packed to last food, he pulls out a can of sausages and another one of sliced tomatoes and goes to sit next to the man. On the next rock. He's not very comfortable about being with a naked man he isn't about to fuck nor has he any relationship with. A hot naked man, he has had the time to check.

Ace will probably have to lend the man some clothes. That could be a problem. Resisting the urge to evaluate the likelihood of that working while the blond has nothing to distract him and will, undoubtedly, notice if Ace looks at him too much or too closely, he pulls out his Swiss army knife, searches for the can opener and opens both cans, leaving them on the empty space of the rock he is sitting on as he remembers a little detail.

He almost accidentally cuts the finger that appears out of nowhere to poke at the can opener with the blade of the knife when he tries to fold it back. Luckily for both parties involved, he manages to react in time and halt his movements — because the last thing he needs is to have to heal a cut, and that would be if the man has good reflexes, which Ace doubts given what has just almost happened.

Ace glares at the man, who ignores him in favor of poking around at the can opener before moving curiously to the other tools. No, not curiously. The man is _fascinated_. He reminds Ace disturbingly of how a little boy looks when he discovers a new toy.

"What, you never seen a can opener?" he snaps at the blond, pulling the knife back and closing it. The dejected look that crosses the man's face almost makes him feel bad enough to open the knife again and hand it over. He's not about to give a weapon to a total stranger.

Instead, Ace stands up, stuffs it back in his pocket and goes back to the satchel bag. He doesn't have to rummage long to find his second canteen —that is full because he makes a point of having both canteens filled with water all the time— and walks back to his place.

Ace hands the canteen over as he sits down, and the blond takes it hesitantly, turning it around in his hands.

"It's not poisoned, you know," he snaps again, but of course the other can't understand him and continues to examine his canteen.

Ace takes the cans and turns to the man, intent on somehow get across the message of 'eat, but leave at least two thirds of each to me cause I'm fucking hungry' when he is struck immobile by what he sees; the man is still slowly spinning the canteen in his hands as he stares and pokes at it and, contrary to Ace's first thought, he isn't suspicious. He looks as fascinated as he did with the knife moments ago.

_What the-?_

This is a little too much for Ace. The incident before was weird, but there was a small possibility that the man —a man lost in a cave in the middle of the forest, but well— had never seen one of those. But a _canteen_? This is plan ridiculous. He wonders if the man hit his head and now has lost all memory or something like that. But no, a look at the blond's mostly bald head —and isn't that a strange hairstyle?— proves that there is no wound that would support that theory.

Maybe whatever is wrong with the man has nothing to do with an accident. The behavior he is displaying is oddly childish, but Ace has absolutely no knowledge of psychology and can't even attempt to guess what the problem might be. But that there _is_ a problem could help explain why the blond was in that cave —and naked no less— in the first place. He must have got lost. Not long ago because he presents no signs of malnourishment whatsoever —and he might have given the man another cursory once over just to be sure of that fact.

Perhaps there is another entrance to the cave somewhere else in the forest and that is how he got there —because Ace has serious doubts believing the bright light and blue giant bird have anything to do with it and, being back in his camp, no longer is sure he actually saw that— and the man's things are there. Perhaps his companions, too, because Ace can't believe someone like the blond, with his inability to speak coherently and obvious lack of knowledge of any survival skills, could be here on his own.

This realization has Ace change his mind and makes him feel a pang of guilt crawl in his gut, because he has been snapping and annoyed at a man who isn't at fault for not being able to understand all these things that for Ace are so simple.

He carefully places the cans back down and takes his other canteen from his belt. When Ace taps the blond man on the shoulder, he isn't startled, which makes the younger one wonder if the blond was as distracted as he seemed to be by his inspection. Ace points at the canteen he is holding.

The man stares fixedly as Ace, deliberately very slowly, uncaps the canteen, brings it up to his lips and takes a small sip from it —small because he isn't thirsty and is simply showing the other what he is supposed to do.

Ace has to give it to the man, he is a fast learner. He had expected to have to repeat the process various times, but it seems the blond has understood, because now he is the one uncapping his canteen and bringing it to his lips. The dark haired man knows the exact moment the water touches the other's lips because a surprised expression crosses the man's face, and then he is drinking as if he hadn't done so in years. He probably has been lost in there for hours, perhaps a day —no more because dehydration doesn't seem to have made a noticeable appearance in the man's body.

The expression of wonder with which the man looks at the canteen once he has stopped drinking —and capped it again just as Ace did— has the younger man thinking that he is kind of cute. In a sort of sexually assaulting way because Ace has not forgotten that incident with the kiss. Perhaps the man doesn't understand the existence of personal boundaries? Or maybe what he doesn't understand is the sexual meaning of such an act? His behavior so far, kiss aside, has been so innocent that it could very well be the case.

"Hey," this time he catches the man's attention. He is sure the other doesn't know that word has no other purpose aside from that, but apparently the blond is no longer so transfixed that he is ignoring Ace.

He takes the cans once more and shows them to the man, who lowers his head —he is still firmly holding the canteen in one hand— to look closely at them. He is curious, Ace notes, but there doesn't seem to be nearly as much confusion or fascination on the man's face as there was with the canteen or the knife, which makes Ace think he at least _knows_ it is food.

That's progress, in Ace's mind.

The blond raises a hand and, hesitantly, takes a slice of tomato. Ace has to resist the urge to scoff when the man simply examines it and makes no sign of going to eat it. He reminds himself that it probably isn't the other's fault and he can't get angry with him. Instead, Ace takes a slice of tomato himself and, attracting the other's attention with another 'hey', eats it.

Again, the man understands and does the same. An undecipherable expression takes over his face for a moment before a corner of his mouth goes up in a small smile.

Before the same stupid process can happen with the sausages, Ace takes a few bits and eats them to demonstrate that they are perfectly edible and there is nothing wrong with them.

They begin to eat dinner in silence —it's not as if they could start a conversation— and Ace is glad to note that, at the speed the man eats, he will be perfectly capable of eating what he wants without having to start a silent argument or open a new can of anything. He takes the time to discreetly look at the man when he seems to be more distracted.

The blond is a little taller than Ace, that is something he noticed during their walk back to camp, but Ace would say his shoulders are somewhat broader than the man's. The other is muscular like Ace, but the boy would hazard a guess that he has a little more muscle than the blond, especially on the arms, though the difference isn't very noticeable. This all means his pants will probably be a little short for the man, but it probably won't be even noticeable because they are shorts that reach right above Ace's knees, and the shirt will be the slightest bit loose —and Ace's shirts are loose on him to begin with. The problem, Ace soon notices, will be the shoes. Because the man's feet are clearly bigger than Ace's —he would guess one or two numbers— and there is no way he'll be able to wear Ace's spare boots.

When they are done no food is left in neither of the cans, and Ace collects them, stands up and goes to throw them into the almost full garbage bag he has against the wall furthest from the fire. He keeps it tied, and he has to open and then close it again.

The man hasn't moved, he is still following Ace's movements with his gaze, and it is proof of Ace's self-confidence that it doesn't make him feel too uncomfortable. Because the man's eyes, despite being half lidded most of the time, are intense, and give the impression to be looking straight into one's soul.

He goes to his backpack and searches for his only remaining clean clothes —he is annoyed at the realization that now he will have to do the laundry sooner than he had planned. And he refuses to admit Sabo might have been right and he should have brought some underwear.

Walking back to the seat-rocks, he hands the pants and shirt to the man. The blond stares at them, and then he stares at Ace.

_Oh, shit, this is NOT happening._

If he thought the incident with the canteen had been absurd, it had only been because he hadn't experienced_ this_.

Luckily, before he can say or do anything, the man reaches over and takes the offered clothes. Ace sighs. He probably had just been confused that Ace is lending him clothes.

The blond separates them, taking the shirt in one hand and the pants in the other. He stands up and leaves the pants on the rock to hold now the shirt in both hands. He looks at Ace —and the look definitely _doesn't_ last too long— before moving to put the shirt on. It takes some awkward maneuvering and more than one absurd miss, but he finally succeeds and the fabric is correctly draped, buttons open, around his torso.

Ace belatedly realizes the confusion might have been because the man, as just demonstrated, has some trouble dressing himself and is used to getting help to do it.

Guilt creeping back in and making him feel like a heartless bastard, Ace wonders if he should help the other button it down, but discards the idea because they will soon go to sleep and Ace himself prefers to sleep with his shirt open. Instead, he goes to take the pants from the rock and looks at the man.

"Sit," he says, pointing to the other rock.

Perhaps he is used to that sort of command, or simply recognizes it from before, but once again the man does as he is told and sits down.

Ace kneels before him —and he refuses to think how close he is to the uncovered dick of a hot guy who kissed him not long ago— and takes one of the man's legs. Or he tries, because the other doesn't seem willing to cooperate. Ace pulls, but the man keeps it down —and, damn, he is strong— and Ace raises his head to glare at him. The blond isn't glaring, but he looks at Ace with mistrust clear in his eyes.

The younger man sighs, lets go of the leg and raises the hand with which he holds the shorts up for the other to see.

"I gotta put this on you!" he growls, pointing at the man with his free index finger. There's no sign of comprehension, of course, and Ace sighs.

He runs his free hand through his hair, sighs a second time, and decides to try again.

Looking once more at the man's face, what he knows to be an expression of infinite patience on his own —the one he uses when he is forced to help Luffy with homework— he tries to explain.

"I have to get this," he points to the pants, "on you," now he points to the man's bare legs, "like this," and last, his finger points to his own shorts-clad legs.

The blond leans his head to the side, Ace holds back the urge to sigh again or hit his head on something —_remember math, remember math_— and repeats the process a second time.

After the third repetition, the blond nods and, much to Ace's surprise and satisfaction, raises the leg Ace had tried to lift before. Getting the man's legs into the shorts' legs is a matter of moments after that, but now arrives the difficult part.

"Stand up," he says, and he shouldn't have been surprised when his only answer is a confused tilt of the head. "Stand up," he says again, this time doing so himself as he speaks to show the man what he means. It's not enough, and he tries to gesture with his hands, moving his fingers in the universal 'come' gesture as he repeats his command, but it doesn't seem to be working.

Instead, Ace sits on the other rock and, while he stands, says the order again. He does so once more, and then the man finally nods and obeys.

Ace swallows.

He walks closer to the blond and, refusing to look anywhere but his hands, he crouches down in a hurried movement. Then he fixes his eyes on the man's bare feet as he takes the fabric pooled around them and hurriedly pulls it up, never looking right in front of his face. He stands up as soon as he has the shorts' waist firmly held around the man's hips, and hurries to zip and fasten them into place. They seem to fit well, and that is good because Ace has no spare belt to lend him.

Letting go of the shorts, Ace finally looks at the man's face and is surprised to realize he wasn't looking down to see what Ace's hands are doing, as he has done with everything else. Instead, the blond is looking at Ace directly. And there is _not _a smirk on the blond's face. Because Ace _refuses_ to admit that the man's expression is a smirk, and much less one that looks suspiciously like one that would accompany a _very_ perverted sexual innuendo.

The guy isn't right on the head, that much has been established, and it is laughable that he doesn't know how to put some pants on but can understand the concept of sex. And so, Ace turns away —_and he is not blushing_— and goes to get the sleeping bag.

Which bring another problem to attention.

He only has one sleeping bag.

Memories of his time camping with his brothers come to his mind and the solution presents itself. There was more than one time they only had one sleeping bag —that happens when you have a crazy grandfather who wants you to 'become strong' and dumps the three of you in the middle of the forest with the equipment necessary for only one person— and they always spread it out on the ground and covered themselves with their only blanket. That is what they will do, and this time Ace has a spare space blanket, which means they can have one each and he won't have to worry about getting his cover stolen. Sleeping with Luffy teaches you the valuable lesson of separate covers, the brat always manages to hog the blanket for himself.

Ace takes the necessary items from his backpack and leaves them on the free space of the ground that is wide enough for his plan. Once everything is ready, he takes a deep breath, preparing himself for the tedious task that will no doubt be coaxing the man onto the sleeping bag.

To his surprise, the blond isn't sitting on the rock anymore, and instead he is kneeling by the fire and adding some firewood to the flame that had dwindled considerably. Ace is startled, and is about to physically drag the man away from the campfire when he realizes the amount of wood the man has in his arms is the right one to get the fire back to how it was when Ace started it, nothing more.

So maybe the man _does_ have some survival skills. That is a relief to know.

"Hey," he says once the man is done, and the blond raises his head to look at him, "come here."

Of course, the other doesn't understand, and Ace tries again, signaling him and then tracing a path with his finger that ends right next to him. It is a system that seems to work well with the other man, and it only takes four repeats for the other to stand up and walk over to him. For a moment, Ace had half feared the man would try to cross right across the fire instead of edging around it. It's good to know he is not as clueless as Ace first thought.

"Lie down," he says, pointing at the spread stretching bag. Then, Ace walks around it, to the side he will occupy, and sits down. As he drops on his back, he repeats, "lie down."

This one is simple enough that there is no need for Ace to repeat himself, as the man follows right after him.

Blue eyes open wide, and the blond sits, though it's more like a jump, up. Ace does as well, looking at him with worry, but before he can uselessly ask if anything is wrong, he notices the other is looking down at their makeshift mattress. He is running a hand over it, and that expression of wonder is right back on the man's face as he not only touches, but _caresses_, the fluffy surface.

Once again, the strangeness of everything hits Ace right on the face. The man knows how to keep a fire going but acts as if a flimsy and worn sleeping bag is the greatest wonder he has ever seen.

Shrugging, he is too tired to keep pondering what the fuck is wrong with the man, Ace kicks his boots off, unfastens his belt pouch from around his waist, follows with his belt and empties his pockets, leaving everything to the side of the sleeping bag, between it and the cave wall.

Next to him, the man has also left the canteen to the side of the bag —and it's just now that Ace notices he hadn't let go of it— and lies down again, this time on his side facing Ace and a hand still running over the blue surface of the sleeping bag.

Ace stretches an arm over where his head will be once he lies down again and takes the two blankets he has left folded there. He hands one over, and is preparing himself to explain how it works when the man, after just a moment of examining it, unfolds it and throws it over himself.

Apparently he knows what a blanket is.

His job done for him, Ace lies down and covers himself as well, moving onto his side to use an arm as a pillow.

"Good night," he whispers, earning a confused look. He grins, overwhelmed by the absurdity of what can't have been more than two hours, and receives a small grin back.

* * *

Ace wakes up to clear sunlight entering through the entrance of the cave, the fire no longer burning and an empty sleeping bag. For a half asleep moment he entertains the possibility that last night was just a bizarre dream, but he would never have slept this way if he had been alone.

He sits up, and a look around proves the man isn't in the cave.

Ace curses.

He turns to the side, moves to put his boots on and hurries to stuff everything back in his pockets, put his belt back on and then wrap his belt pouch around his waist. He stands up and doesn't bother to put everything away before going for the entrance. The strange man has his clothes, and his second canteen because it's nowhere to be seen, and Ace won't be happy if the guy has decided to ignore the fact that he has no shoes and just wander off.

Ace stops on his tracks right outside the cave entrance. The blond is there, a fire with a somewhat flat and wide stone covering most of it and a dead animal —it looks like a squirrel— half-grilled on top of it. Ace wonders how the man managed to dress it. A quick glance around reveals, next to the blond, his open and bloodied Swiss army knife. Ace checks his pockets to see that it really isn't there. He was in such a hurry to get out that he hadn't noticed it missing. Idiot.

The man looks up at him and smiles. Ace smiles back, because that almost cooked there is breakfast and his annoyance is fading quickly.

Then the man raises a hand —Ace notices it's bloodied, no doubt from the squirrel— and points to the space next to where he is keeping an eye on the food.

"Sit."

Ace chuckles, because it is now obvious his efforts reached the man are working, and raises a hand, palm pointed outward.

"Wait," he says, and hurries inside. He digs into his backpack until he finds one of the dish towels Sabo stuffed in there and a tin cup. He goes to the water carrier that is half empty and fills the second item.

He walks outside.

This time he sits next to the man, leaves the objects on the ground and reaches out to the man with one hand.

"Give me your hand," at the confused look, he points to one of the man's hands. "Hand," and shakes his in an impatient gesture that is more brusque than how he really feels.

The other raises the signaled hand hesitantly, and Ace takes hold of it. With his free hand, he dips one end of the towel into the water inside the cup, and then uses the wet cloth to rub at the blood. It takes a while, the blood having already dried, and by the time the blond's hands are clean the meat is almost cooked and the water in the cup looks more like dissolved blood than water.

The man nods at him, a smile on his lips, and Ace takes it as a 'thank you'.

Ace nods back and picks the blade up, proceeding to wipe it out of blood as well. Careful inspection, however, shows it will take some time, and he leaves it to the side when the blond leans over the meat, nodding. Ace intercepts the man's hand before he can take the still bloody Swiss blade, and instead pulls out his pocket knife and hands it over.

It takes some effort with the small blade, but soon Ace finds himself holding three quarters of the squirrel. The blond just smiles at him when Ace gives the man a puzzled look at the distribution of the meat and takes a bite of his portion.

The boy shrugs and takes a huge bite.

The man has just proved he has some very useful skills.

**To be continued**


	3. Chapter 3

Oh, look, an update :D I'm sorry I'm so late u_ù

Thanks to Aerle and The Red Harlequin On The Luna for their help with this :)

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Ace secures the last piece of clothing to the rope that serves as a drying rack every time he needs one and sighs. He hates doing chores like that, it is just boring and, contrary to what some people seem to think about them, not relaxing at all. At least he has managed to do it in solitude as, after a good ten minutes of gesturing and repeated words, he has made the blond man understand he should stay inside the cave. Not because he _wants_ the man to stay in there, but because he would rather not have the man staring fixedly at everything he does. It becomes kind of far too unnerving after the first couple of hours.

It takes him a little while, more time than he is willing to admit, to realize the annoying background noise is his phone ringing, and he darts to the entrance of the cave. There he stands, glued to the ground by the sight that greets him: many of his things are strewn across the ground, and the blond man is kneeling —on all fours, really— over Ace's phone, a finger poking curiously at the device.

For a dumb moment Ace thinks he would have expected the man to jump in fright at the scandalous noise, seeing how he seems to know so little about certain things, and is impressed by how brave he must be to stay so close to the obviously unknown item. Then he remembers his phone is ringing, that Sabo and Luffy are the only ones who would call him. Sabo would murder him if he didn't answer and Luffy would whine that he ignored him. Ace lunges at the phone.

It turns out, that wasn't such a smart course of action.

Next thing he knows, Ace has his back flat on the ground, caught completely off-guard by the man that now hovers over him, a confused yet wary expression on the blond's face. It's an expression far too alert, Ace thinks. Not something that is seen often.

"O-Oi…" he complains, barely refraining from yelling because his brain manages to intercept his mouth just in time and convinces him that such an action will probably not work well to relax the blond.

A blond that's far too _strong_. Even for his appearance. And he isn't really hurting Ace, despite the fact that he's holding tightly both of his arms. The guy knows what he is doing.

"I need to get that," Ace says, raising a hand as much as his trapped upper arm allows to point at the phone that has just stopped ringing. He grimaces, that's going to cost him.

The man doesn't turn his head, and instead looks at the phone out of the corner of his eye. Ace feels uncomfortable by this action, as most of the attention of his strange guest is still focused on him. And the man is s_traddling _him. In a decidedly non-sexual way. Which makes the young man feel even more uneasy than he would have likely felt if it _had_ been sexual.

A blond eyebrow goes up, and Ace takes the gesture as an inquiry.

"That," he insists. The thought that the man might think a phone is called 'that' crosses his mind, but right now angry brothers take priority over communication misunderstandings. He points at the phone, repeats the word and then points at himself. "Me. That. Me."

The grip on his arms loosens a little, but Ace doesn't delude himself into thinking he can get free by force. The guy has proven he's too fast —and strong— for that to work. He would just end up pinned to the ground again and, if the blond takes it as an offensive action, this time he might actually be injured in the process.

"It's not dangerous," he says though the man won't understand, and tries to smile a mix of his most friendly smile and a reassuring one. "Please," he adds for good measure, and his tactic must have worked because the man stands, pulling Ace up with him.

He doesn't let go of his arms immediately, instead moving behind Ace and pushing him softly in the back and in the direction where the phone is before letting go.

Ace is aware of the blue eyes glued to him as he walks slowly to the phone that starts to ring again —he isn't going to make any sudden movements and risk setting the man off again— and wonders distractedly if this is how prisoners feel, their every move watched closely. He shakes the thought off, because this is _his_ camp and if there should be a prisoner here it wouldn't be _him_.

The boy bends down, picks the phone and turns around to look at the silent man, who has moved to sit against one of the cave's walls. Ace drags his thumb across the screen of the phone to answer the call and drops to a sitting position on the ground. He brings the phone up to his ear, eyes glued to the blond's blue ones.

"Yeah?"

Ace sees the confusion flicker across the man's face. He is probably thinking why Ace is talking to a thing held against his head.

"You forgot your phone again?"

Blue eyes open like saucers, and that is enough for the boy to know the man is able to hear Sabo at the other side of the line, even if his brother isn't yelling or anything. He holds back a smirk.

* * *

Ace stares at the man sitting in front of him. In a moment Ace was distracted, the blond disappeared and now has come back with lunch —and Ace is _not_ complaining, though he wonders at the ease with which the man is able to hunt without any tools to help him— that is now being cooked on the same stone where breakfast had been. It had taken a moment for Ace to understand the gesture when, right after coming back, the man extended an expectant hand to him. He almost didn't hand his knife over, but then realized the guy had already taken it earlier and hadn't tried to murder him with it.

He has taught the blond how to get water from the container, and now the man is cleaning the utensil and his hands himself, though he is also looking curiously at the other tools the item has, no doubt trying to figure them out.

Ace, meanwhile, is trying to figure _the man_ out. He can no longer cling to his theory that he has some mental deficiency, not after what happened earlier. He is far too alert, far too perceptive and fast to grasp any concept Ace has tried to explain him. The guy doesn't know the language —he has proven to have the capacity of speech with the few words he has learned— and lacks a lot of common knowledge to a level not even Luffy can reach, but he is far from stupid. He is _smart_, and that takes down most of the theories the boy can come up with to explain what is wrong with the man.

A flash of blue fire appears in Ace's mind and a part of his brain decides he should try to discover if that fire even exists. He pushes the idea back. He doesn't even know where he would begin with that, and the part of his brain claiming that such a thing can't exist still has some power in his decision making. If he can't find any logical explanation for what is going on here, then he will consider the illogical, but for now he will stick to common sense.

The man finally closes the blade and hands it to him, his eyes shining in a way oddly reminiscent of a five year old with a new toy. Ace puts it back in place and grins at him. Maybe he could show the guy what some of the other tools do, just to see if he would react with as much fascination as he has to most things Ace has done so far.

And, speaking of the man.

"What's your name?"

The blond blinks and tilts his head to the side.

Ace really needs to stop forgetting the guy can't understand him.

"Name," he repeats, slower this time, and then points at himself. "Ace." He points at the man and asks; "name?" The other, of course, doesn't understand, so Ace points at himself again. "Name, Ace." And again at the man. "Name?"

After the fifth repeat, the man nods and then, much to Ace's confusion, shakes his head.

"What?" the boy asks, and his expression must have compelled his confusion, because the man seems to understand what he means. He shakes his head in a very clear negative.

"Name," the blond says then, and it takes Ace a moment to understand what he is saying. His eyes widen, and he feels his mouth fall open. _What?_

"No name?" he asks to clarify, and emphasizes the 'no' with the same slow, clear shaking of the head the man has used to convey the meaning of the word.

The blond nods, and then imitates Ace's actions as if to reaffirm that is what he means, shaking his head and repeating the words 'no name'. He says it with such ease that Ace is sure the man doesn't think it is a big deal. For him, on the other hand, it is such an alien concept that it takes him the remainder of the meal to understand that the man before him not only has no knowledge of the world, but that by not having a name is as if he has never had anyone for him, no parents, relatives or friends who would acknowledge he is _someone_.

By not having a name, it is as if the man doesn't exist.

* * *

It is strange how at ease Ace feels now next to the blond man.

Oh, he was confused when he went out to do some warm-up and the guy not only followed, but after looking at him for a minute started to imitate him. Ace worried the man would misunderstand anything, or mess things up and either hurt himself or Ace, but the guy learns fast, and when he can learn just by observing, no words involved, he doesn't seem to have any trouble.

Half an hour into the now workout session, Ace was surprised when the blond stopped him and, much to the boy's surprise, showed him an exercise Ace doesn't know. He grinned at him and tried, and now they've settled into a routine of Ace teaching the man a move, and the man teaching him a move afterwards.

His previous observations about the blond's physical skills stand, and the boy notices he seems to favor kicks, while Ace himself bases his fighting style more on punches.

It is an interesting experience, and he decides he wouldn't mind repeating it.

* * *

Had Ace been alone here, he would be cursing himself right now for having refused to take any of the books Sabo had tried to stuff in his luggage aside from the one about the local flora and fauna. There in only so much one can do without any real means of entertainment —and he has very few games in his phone, too— but luckily, he now has a companion that can help him get rid of the boredom that would otherwise be smothering him.

Unfortunately, his companion is unable to keep even the simplest of conversations, and Ace has decided to take it upon himself to solve that problem. The man's vocabulary right now includes 'Ace', 'name', 'eat', 'water', 'sit', 'hand', 'stand up', 'come here' and 'lie down'. It's not much —a little depressing, if he's honest— but it's a start and those words allow to function on a surprising amount of daily situations.

Right now, Ace has the ground outside the cave littered with cans, packs of crackers, cookies and a little of everything edible he has brought with him and is pointing at each of them stating the word 'food'. It's not a great plan, but Ace has never claimed to be a good teacher, and he's counting on the man's brain —which has proven to be far quicker than Ace anticipated— to grasp what he means. He figures they should start with the more general concepts, he is sure he has at least the right idea there.

The man picks one of the cans —sausage, like the one they ate last night for dinner— and points at it.

"Food?"

Ace grins and nods.

"Yeah."

Then the man points where the fire was earlier that day —there's nothing left from the rabbit they ate for lunch, Ace cleaned everything before it could attract any animals— and asks again. Ace nods enthusiastically, because the guy has understood the concept, proving that his improvised method might work.

His stomach growls, because it's mid afternoon and they've been working out for almost two hours before. He chooses a bag of chocolate chip cookies and opens it.

"Let's eat," he says, and the man must have understood the last word, because he takes one when Ace offers the bag to him first —he _has_ manners, even if he is going to eat three quarters of the bag. He notices the man doesn't eat until he sees the boy take a bite himself, and is tempted to scoff at what could be either paranoia or mistrust, but when the man _does_ eat, he is too fascinated to be annoyed.

Because whenever Ace has heard about the amazement of someone who eats chocolate for the first time, he had never truly understood the concept. But the almost awed expression on the man's face is everything he needs to know he has never before eaten chocolate.

The man takes another bite, and he looks so pleased that Ace realizes the guy had had his guard up to some extent all the time until now. In an unusual gesture of good will, and only because it is obvious the man really likes chocolate, Ace decides he will eat just two thirds of the bag.

Taking another one, he pointed at it.

"Cookie."

* * *

The next morning, Ace isn't surprised when both the man and his Swiss army knife are missing, and this time he notices the delicious smell coming from outside. As he puts everything in place, he catches sight of his shoulder bag, and how it has _obviously_ been searched through. He growls, but doesn't bother to check what is missing, knowing he will see it by himself once he goes outside.

Ace is surprised at what greets him. The tripod he uses to cook —one the man _hasn't_ seen him use, he must add— is positioned above the fire, the smaller of the two pots he has brought suspended from it. The tripod's box is lying to one side, the sheet with the instructions —that includes pictures— spread on top of it and under an empty can of peas.

To one side of the tripod, on top of the now dubbed cooking stone, is some sliced meat. Not too much, which makes Ace think whatever the man has caught today isn't big.

Next to the blond is the tin cup and on top of it, open so it will stay balanced there instead of falling inside, is Ace's knife.

Despite himself, and the mess inside, Ace is impressed, the man has not only figured out how to cook with what the boy had in his bag, but he has remembered how he used the can opener the first night and managed it. Without any incidents, if the lack of wounds in the man's hands is anything to go by.

"Morning," he says, grinning at the confused look he receives. He is about to walk over there when he realizes something and goes back inside. Ignoring most of his strewn possessions, he finds the spoon still inside the bag, takes it and goes back inside. He only has one spoon, which means they will have to share, but Ace doesn't believe the man will mind. And what is an indirect kiss through it after a real one two nights ago?

Ace is surprised that he isn't annoyed anymore, but he guesses that with everything being so surreal, that incident seems almost normal in comparison, and normal —even annoying normal— is welcome right now.

Looking at his companion, who smiles at him in greeting, the boy makes a decision. He can't risk the other tools of the Swiss knife to be broken —you never know what you might need— but he doesn't want to forbid the man from doing something as nice as bringing and cooking food for him, so he pulls out his pocket knife.

"Hey." The man looks up and Ace extends his hand to offer it to him. The blond blinks. "Take it." He knows the other hasn't understood the words, but does as the boy has said all the same.

Ace takes the other knife —that has already dried— and points to the one in the man's hands.

"Yours," he says, then he raises the other, "mine," and he brings it closer to himself to emphasize. He repeats it for good measure and the man nods. Ace isn't sure he has understood him, but guesses he will know the next morning. If the knife disappears again, it means he will have to find another way to explain.

But for now his attention is drawn to the already cooked breakfast.

* * *

Ace has made his mind and, after a short warm-up session later that morning, he approaches the man. His mind is alert in case he will need to dodge —he can't know how the blond will react, it's not as if he knows of any precedents of this situation, but this is something he feels has to be done.

"Hey," the man turns his head to look at him, already having associated that word with a way to get someone's attention.

Ace stops a foot away from him.

"Name," he says, and the man begins to shake his head, but Ace cuts him by raising a hand and shaking his own head. "No, no. You, name." That sounds stupid even to his ears, but he has said 'you' enough times to hope the man might have an inkling as to what the word means.

The man tilts his head in obvious question, and Ace swallows. He looks around, seeing that he could roll to the right without risking to crash into a tree. Raising a hand, he points to himself.

"Ace." Then he points to the man."Marco."

He has been thinking since yesterday, and that name sounds good for the man. He can't keep calling him 'man' all the time, after all.

The blond blinks, and Ace waits to see if another reaction will appear on his face or if he will have to repeat himself. He doesn't move, eyes fixed on the other's expression, searching for any sign of anger or annoyance that will signal he should retreat. After all, he doesn't know how the man will react to Ace trying to name him.

Understanding slowly blooms on the blond's face, and Ace tenses as he waits to see the next emotion there. When, instead of anger, a small smile stretches the man's lips, Ace almost sighs in relief. He really wasn't looking forward to a fight.

"Marco?" The blond asks, pointing a finger at himself. Ace nods and smiles too.

The other steps closer, and when he begins to slowly lean forward, Ace half expects another kiss and isn't sure how to react —should he stop it? Return it? He has already admitted his companion is attractive, and he hasn't had much of anything in a while— but instead of his mouth, Marco's lips come to rest against his forehead.

**To be continued**


End file.
